Zlata Ognevich, the 2013 Eurovision Ukrainian representative has revealed her plans for her forthcoming Eurovision participation in Malmö.

Last Saturday  Zlata Ognevich,  the Ukrainian entry at Eurovision 2013, gave her first live performance for the Eurovision fans in Europe at concert in Amsterdam. It was her first visit to Holland as well. In Amsterdam the Ukrainian butterfly made friends with other Eurovision entries, gave over 20 interviews in one day and shared details on her forthcoming Eurovision staging.

Zlata Ognevich has disclosed that she will be a accompanied by  four backing vocals on stage in Malmö , the 6th character of the performance is yet to be revealed. One of the backing vocals will be none other than  Cleveland Watkiss,  described as a Jazz legend by Telegraph, was the winner of the London Jazz Awards for Best Vocalist in 2010 and was voted Wire/Guardian Jazz Awards best vocalist for three consecutive years.

The 2013 Ukrainian entry’s staging will be  directed by Maxim Litvinov, Ukrainian top class director, who designs shows for the Ukrainian analogues of The X-Factor and Ukraine’s Got Talent. Ukraine has always tried to surprise the European viewers, and this time we are doing the kind of show which Europe has never seen at the Eurovision stage before,”says Maxim.

Zlata Ognevich will perform Gravity in the First Semi Final on 14 May 2013. Gravity was written by Mikhail Nekrasov, who was responsible for arranging Ruslana’s winning entry in 2004. The lyrics Gravity have been penned by  by Karen Kavaleryan, author of Ani Lorak’s Shady Lady and Dima Bilan’s Never Let You Go. Gravity is a song which one can find to be at the intersection of various cultures. Zlata says it very much coincides with the theme art of this year’s Eurovision. The intercultural sound of music in Gravity reflects the big idea of cultural diversity behind Eurovision.

Gravity- Official videoclip

Ukraine debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 and has won the event in 2004 with Ruslana’s Wild Dances, and successfully hosted the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. Stay tuned to esctoday.com for the latest news on the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

Photographs: NTU, eurovision.tv, Aleksandr Lysenko, Sergeii Yushkov

Cover Photo: Vlad Kramskoi